It is often necessary to hang various pipes from ceilings of buildings. If the ceilings are made of poured concrete, then the supporting brackets can be nailed to the concrete. But because concrete is so hard, the nails must be driven by very high impact tools. Because concrete is brittle, the driving of such nails can crack the concrete. Moreover, the high-power nail guns must be held overhead to fasten the hangers to the ceiling. There is thus a need for a pipe support that does not require lifting heavy tools overhead, and which is easier to use, and which does not crack the concrete.
Alternatively, threaded fasteners may be embedded in the concrete either by drilling holes in the concrete after it has cured and inserting the fasteners into the holes, or by attaching the fasteners to the concrete form before pouring the concrete, thus later embedding the fasteners in the concrete. The first of these alternatives has the disadvantage of once again requiring heavy tools to be lifted overhead to drill holes, while both alternatives require multiple fasteners, brackets, etc., to accomplish the task of suspending the pipe. There is thus a need for a simplified bracket that reduces the effort and number of components required to suspend the pipe. Further, there is a need for a bracket that reduces the time devoted to each individual pipe suspension point, and which reduces the number of instances during the construction process that each pipe hanger must be addressed to successfully suspend the pipe.
Ceiling hangers are known in which part of the hanger is removably fastened to a form for pouring the concrete and part of the hanger extends from the form so it is embedded in the concrete, as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,362,245, 1,745,858, and 1,767,575. But in these prior art hangers the projecting hangers often present sharp or pointed ends that could hurt someone if they fall on the projecting ends, and the ends could be stepped on during construction and easily bent out of position. There is thus a need for a bracket that reduces sharp ends and that can be stepped on during construction without unacceptably deforming the bracket.